Just released.

Very deep atmosphere and cool sounds!

Is this just the Stick processed with FX, or is there some MIDI to synths as well?

You'd need to ask Jeff for the definitive answer but I think just FX?

If you look at the deatils on his albums on bandcamp https://jeffpearcemusic.bandcamp.com they typically just list the instrumentation as things like "electric guitars and processing". For Rain Shadow Sky (one of the two Stick only albums) "Music for solo Chapman Stick". His other Stick album is "Lingering Light".

PS. If you aren't familiar with Jeff Pearce & his ambient style of playing, here he is playing guitar, very very very slowly.....
....with a wide enough shot that you can see most of his rig.



If you jump to around 12 minutes
https://youtu.be/eDTeugs7W1g?t=767
there's a section with a clearer view (without all the swirly colours).

Cool, checking it out!

It's nice background music.

So far as I'm aware Jeff might actually take that as a compliment.

Personally I prefer the earlier stuff, e.g. his two solo Stick albums from 2005 (Lingering Light) & 2008 (Rainshadow Sky).

It wasn't intended as a negative comment, although it's easy to see it could be interpreted as such. All slights aside, it's a tribute and the objective is to show respect, so I'm enjoying it as such and listening to it from start to finish. It's good mood music.

This music can be realized on most any instrument using enough processing, so while I do not feel that this is music I would listen to in the car, it might be something to listen to while I was working.

After having seen a recent thread of 30-something year old Bob Culbertson mid-song spin a frisbee, that's also a guitar, do a rolling backflip while spinning said guitar / frisbee and crush rocking solos before and after, my attention, in a visual sense, feels a bit underwhelmed with this. So, perhaps a bit of context is in order.

This importance of presenting some sort of visual component to the music was driven home to me in a conversation I had a few years back with Rodrigo Serrao, in which he succinctly described the importance of a visual presence to accompany the music. If there was a way to present this music with ambient images and visuals, I might enjoy actually watching it.

I'll have to learn more about Jeff with the links that you provided - thanks for posting David.

Thanks for the clarification Gene. Internet posts lack the subtlety of face to face speech.

There is indeed scope for many types of music in many contexts, and that's a great thing.

Thanks David, that is so true. We miss out on all the subtlety and humanity of an in-person interaction.

(Digression) Speaking of context, the compendium of Stickists and Stick bands that you are compiling is a beautiful thing. I’ve always wanted to find out how many actual active Chapman Stick players are on this planet